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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

'/ BUREAU OF FISHERIES 

HUGH M. SMITH, Commissioner 



WORK OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES AND ITS FISH-CULTURAL 
STATION AT BOOTHBAY HARBOR, ME, 



The United States Bureau of Fisheries was instituted in 1871 by 
the passage of a joint resolution of Congress creating the office of 
Commissioner of Fisheries, to be filled by a civil officer of the Gov- 
ernment having scientific and practical knowledge of the fisheries, 
who was to receive no additional compensation. Prof, Spencer F. 
Baird, then Assistant Secretary, afterwards Secretary, of the Smith- 
sonian Institution, was appointed to the office and served until his 
death in 1887. By that time the duties of the position had become so 



> 



I 



^^J i -^"lai 1^ ^; 




Fish-cultural Station at Boothbay Harbor. Me. 

heavy as to demand the entire time and attention of the Commis- 
sioner, and soon after the office was divorced from other govern- 
mental work and accorded an independent status and salary. 

Until 1903 the organization was known as the L^nited States Fish 
Commission, and was responsible directly to Congress, but in that 
year it was made a bureau in the new Department of Commerce and 
Labor, now the Department of Commerce. As originally constituted 

81347°— 17 



2 BUREAU OF FISHEBIES. ^ * 9 h^ 

it was an institution for investigating the condition of the fisheries 
in respect to their alleged depletion, the causes Avhich may have led 
to their impoverishment, and the means hy which they might be 
conserved and their productiveness increased. As a result of the 
scientific and statistical investigations, the Commissioner soon de- 
termined that certain fishes had decreased and was able to recommend 
an efficient means for bringing about an increase or at least arresting 
further depletion. This was to be accomplished through the agency 
of fish culture, and little time was lost in securing for the project the 
sanction of Congress by an appropriation. 

In 1872 a few salmon and shad were hatched and planted, and by 
1880 eight species of fishes, including three salmons, two trouts, shad, 
whitefish, and carp, were being produced on a comparatively large 
scale, and active experiments were being conducted to determine the 
methods best suited to the propagation of other species. 

In 1881 there were 16 fish-cultural stations in operation, and the 
output for that year approximated 140,000,000 fish and eggs. In 
1914, 36 permanent stations and 94 subsidiaries, 130 in all, were being 
operated. The main stations, located in 34 States and Alaska, may 
be classified as follows: 

Number, 
Atlantic rivers, for salmon, shad, striped bass, yellow perch, and white 

perch 4 

Pacific rivers, for salmon and steelhead trout 5 

Great Lakes, for whitefish, cisco, lake trout, and pike perch 4 

Interior waters, for bass, sunfish, crappie, trout, etc 20 

Atlantic coast, for cod, haddock, pollock, flounder, and lobster 3 

Total 36 

At these stations 45 species of marine and fresh-water fishes were 
propagated in 1914 and the output for that year constituted over 
four and one-fourth billions of fish eggs, fry, fingerlings, and adult 
fish, the distribution of this product concerning practically every 
State in the Union and the Territory of Alaska. Some idea of the 
magnitude of this distribution may be gained by noting the fact that 
during that year it involved 611,691 miles of travel, of which 131,156 
miles were covered by the Bureau's special cars and the remainder by 
detached messengers. 

In addition 2,500,000 food and game fishes were rescued from over- 
flowed lands, where they were in peril of being left by the receding 
waters, and returned to the safety of the streams. 

Solely by reason of these fish-cultural operations, supplemented 
by similar activities on the part of the States, the supply of trout 
and other food and game fishes in streams and small lakes is being 
maintained if not increased; the whitefish of the Great Lakes is 
holding its own, the shad in certain waters is being saved from ex- 



:^ * STATION AT BOOTHBAY HAKBOB, ME. 3 

'^.. tinction, and the effects of heavy fisheries for the Pacific sahnons and 
certain marine species are being compensated for. It is believed that 
the recently inaugurated propagation of fresh-water mussels will re- 
lieve the prospect of a depletion of the supply of raw material of the 
pearl-button industry. 

An important branch of the fish-cultural work of the Bureau has 
been its efforts in the acclimatization of important food fishes. As 
a result of these efforts the Atlantic shad and the striped bass are 
now abundant on the Pacific coast, and large numbers of the former 
species are being shipped back at the present time for supplying 
eastern markets. The steelhead trout, a valuable food fish indige- 
nous to Pacific coastal streams, has been successfully introduced in 
some of the Great Lakes and their tributaries, the species having 
become so well established in Lake Superior that a fishery of con- 
siderable extent has been built up and is steadily growing in im- 
portance. Along this same line of endeavor the Bureau has for 
some years been transferring carload lots of the New England lob- 
ster to the Puget Sound region of the Pacific coast. It is also an- 
nually transferring to the Xew England stations for development 
large numbers of eggs of one of the important Pacific salmons, and 
planting the newly hatched fry in suitable waters, wdth the view 
to establishing the species in some of the Atlantic coastal streams. 

The fry hatched from eggs of the commercial species, which are 
produced b}^ hundreds of millions, are liberated on the natural 
spaw^ning grounds from which the eggs w^ere collected. The vari- 
ous species of trout, the black basses, crappie, sunfish, catfish, etc., 
are utilized for stocking virgin waters and for restocking Avaters 
in which the supply has become depleted. 

Because of the great increase in the cost of living the people of 
the States, especially the farmers, are manifesting great interest 
in the cultivation of fish in artificially constructed ponds and in 
natural inland waters of limited area. The Bureau is making spe- 
cial efforts to cooperate in this work, and upon application will 
undertake to furnish fish of suitable species for stocking waters of 
that nature. It will also supply information regarding the con- 
struction of ponds and economical methods of management. 

The statistical work, inaugurated as a necessary part of the origi- 
nal functions of the Bureau, has been continued and enlarged. 
Periodical canvasses are made of the fisheries, usually by geographi- 
cal sections, e. g.. New England States, Middle Atlantic States, 
South Atlantic States, Gulf States, Pacific Coast States, Mississippi 
River and tributaries. Great Lakes, minor interior w^aters, and 
Alaska. In the last few years unusually comprehensive statistical 
reports have been published on the oyster, menhaden, lobster, and 
fresh-water mussels. This statistical information is not only of im- 



4 BUEEAU OF FISHERIES. 

mediate interest to the fisheries industries, but is highly important 
as a basis for determining the necessity and the measures for tlie 
regulation and conservation of the fisheries. 

The regulation of the fisheries, whether in navigable Avafrers or not, 
is a function of the government of the several States within which 
they are located, and until recently the Bureau of Fisheries had no 
executive duties in the enforcement of fishery regulations, although 
through its advisory capacity exercising large influence over fishery 
legislation. It is now charged, however, with the enforcement of 
the laws relating to the fisheries and the taking of fur-bearing ani- 
mals in Alaska, and has entire administrative control of the Pribilof 
Islands, their native inhabitants, and the fur-seal herds which resort 
to these islands during the breeding season. The annual value of 
the fishery products of Alaska is about $20,000,000, or over two and 
one-half times the original cost of the Territory to the United States. 

The scientific work for which the Bureau was originally created 
has grown greatly in quantity and scope. It embraces a study of 
the habits, distribution, diseases, and classification of fishes and other 
aquatic animals, especially those of commercial importance, and of 
their foods and enemies. As any organism is controlled more or less 
by its environment, the study of a commercial species involves in- 
vestigation of the other animals and plants with which it is directly 
or indirectly associated, and of the physical and chemical characters 
of the waters in which it lives. The information necessary as a basis 
for the conservation and improvement of the fisheries, therefore, 
covers a wide field in aquatic biolog}', physics, and chemistry, and 
the scientific work of the Bureau is governed by an appreciation of 
these requirements. 

The results of investigations are not always susceptible to imme- 
diate practical application, and to make them commercially valuable 
a considerable part of the Bureau's work consists of experiments to 
develop methods by which they can be applied to the needs of 
humanity. 

Investigations and experiments are conducted by " field parties " 
working in all parts of the country, at the general laboratory in 
Washington, the marine biological stations at Woods Hole, Mass., 
and Beaufort, N.' C., and the biological station on the Mississippi 
Eiver at Fairport, Iowa. For marine investigations the Bureau has 
an able seagoing steamer, a coastwise steamer, and a fishing schooner 
with auxiliary gasoline engine power, and various launches and 
small boats are employed both on the coast and in interior waters. 
In addition to the small permanent scientific force, which is inade- 
quate to meet the demands, the Bureau employs temporarily a large 
number of qualified investigators and assistants connected with uni- 
versities, colleges, and other institutions of learning. Some of the 



STATIOISr AT BOOTHBAY HAEBOR, ME. 5 

practical scientific aid which the Bureau has extended to the fisheries 
in recent years consists of the location of new fishing grounds; the 
development of markets, and means of using wasted or neglected 
fishery resources; the development of methods of sponge, terrapin, 
and fresh-water mussel culture; causes of disease in fishes; surveys 
of oyster bottoms, and recommendations for their conservation and 
utilization ; recommendations for State fishery legislation, etc. 

The results of the work of the Bureau are published in two series, 
the " Report.'' of which there are 40, and the " Bulletin," of which 
40 bound volumes have been issued. There is also a^'ailable, in pam- 
phlet form, information explaining the methods pursued by the 
Bureau in the artificial propagation of various species of fish. These 
pamphlets and the pamphlet separates of the papers, included in 
the reports and bulletins, are furnished at a price representing the 
actual cost of presswork and paper, on application to the Superin- 
tendent of Documents, Washington, D. C, who will furnish price 
list to applicants. 

A recently established series of " Economic Circulars " gives in- 
formation on subjects of economic interest. These' circulars are dis- 
tributed free to interested persons on application to the office of 
the Bureau of Fisheries. Washington, D. C. 

THE BOOTHBAY HARBOR HATCHERY. 

LOCATIOX AND ESTABLISHMENT. 

The establishment of a fish-propagating station on the Maine 
coast was authorized by an act of Congress in 1901, and an appro- 
priation of $10,000 was provided for making preliminary investiga- 
tions and for the purchase of a desirable site. After careful investi- 
gation had been made at several proposed points it was decided that 
Boothbay Harbor presented all the requisite natural features for 
the foundation of a hatchery of this character, the location being 
central, the harbor unsurpassed, and pure sea water of a proper 
density for the prosecution of marine fish-cultural work could be 
readily obtained in the harbor. Subsequent appropriations were 
made by Congress from time to time for completing the station in 
its present form. 

The station reservation, consisting of approximately 10 acres of 
land, is located at McKown Point, on the southwest side of Boothbay 
Harbor, 3^ miles from the town of Boothbay Harbor. A daily boat 
plies between that town and Bath, Me. 

The purpose of the station was primarily for the propagation of 
the lobster, the object being to increase or at least maintain the status 
of these valuable fisheries on the coast of Maine, which is the largest 
lobster-producing State in the Union. Much attention is also given, 



6 BUEEAU OF FISHERIES. 

however, to the propagation of the cod, haddock, and flatfish, or 
winter flounder, and such work is supplemented by distributions of 
pollock fry, which are hatched from eggs transferred from other 
stations. 

The work of providing suitable fish-cultural facilities and con- 
structing the special buildings constituting the plant was begun in 
the summer of 1903. The station was practically completed in the 
fall of 1904, and fish-cultural operations were undertaken in 1905. 

DESCRIPTION OF BUILDINGS AND HATCHING FACILITIES. 

The buildings on the reservation consist of a hatchery, boiler and 
pump house, storehouse and carpenter shop, fuel house, ice house, 
and four residence buildings for the occupancy of station employees. 
The hatchery is a frame structure, 48 b}^ 70 feet, one and one-half 
stories high, with hip roof and tower extension 11 by 18 feet on the 
north side. It rests on a foundation of stone and concrete ; the walls 
extend to the height of the Avindow sills. The building contains a 
large and well-lighted hatching room on the first floor, an office, one 
sleeping room in the second story of the tow^er, and ample storage 
facilities in the loft. It is lighted by acetylene gas and heated by 
steam. 

The hatching room is equipped with 12 standard cod-hatching 
tables of 9 boxes each, 2 flatfish tables of 13 boxes each, 14 lobster- 
hatching tables 16 feet long, and 2 flatfish retaining tables 10 feet by 
9 inches by 3 inches. The capacity of the hatchery is 150,000,000 cod 
eggs, 300,000,000 lobster eggs, 700,000,000 flatfish eggs, 100,000,000 
haddock eggs, and 200,0000,000 pollock eggs. 

The pump house is equipped with three steam boilers, two of 15 
horsepower and one of 50 horsepower, and two water pumps of a 
capacity of 300 gallons each per minute. Water supplying the hatch- 
erj^ is pumped from the harbor into a tank having a capacity of 7,500 
gallons, which is elevated on a stone and cement tower 19 feet 6 
inches in height. From this tank the water is distributed through 
pipes by gravity to points where it is needed for fish-cultural pur- 
poses. 

The station is provided with substantially constructed wharves, 
numerous floats, live cars, and other facilities for conducting fish- 
cultural operations, and is equipped with a seagoing vessel, the 
Gannet^ two gasoline motor boats, and a number of smaller boats. 
The Gannet is specially equipped with a commodious lobster tank 
built in the after part of the hull and connected by pipe lines with 
the pumps, so that a constant change of sea water can be supplied 
to the live adult lobsters and the fry and eggs of the various species 
of fish while being transported. 



STATIOlSr AT BOOTHBAY HARBOR, ME. 7 

One of the most important features relating to lobster culture at 
this station is a large lobster pound located in Johns Bay at Pema- 
quid, Me., a distance of 10 miles from the main station. This pound, 
which has a capacity of 20,000 adult lobsters, is made of two dams 
bulit of concrete, stone, and earth, 14 feet wide and 160 and 140 feet 
long, respectively, with tank covers made water-tight to a point 2| 
feet above mean high-water level. Over the dams and resting 
thereon is a grating of scantling and seven-eighths inch iron rods 6 
feet high to prevent the escape of the lobsters. The dams are pro- 
vided with two 30-inch gate valves through which the pound is 
supplied with water bv the ebb and flow of the tides. About the 








:m^ 



Pound for. holding lobsters at rema(]uid, .Me. 

head and sides of the inclosure is a retaining wall 4 feet wide, 
covered with a wooden grating to prevent the embankment from 
Avashing and to keep the lobsters in the deep water. A six-room 
cottage is provided foi* the occupanc}^ of the custodian of the pound, 
whose dutv it is to care fur and feed the lobsters. 



LOBSTER PROPAGATION. 

The propagation of the lobster is the feature of the work at this 
station, and in recent years the output of lobster fry has average:! 
about 160,000,000. The majority of the egg-bearing lobsters used 
by the Bureau for propagating purposes are secured, during the 



8 



BUREAU OF FISHERIES; 



summer and fall months, from, commercial dealers at Rockland and 
Portland, Me., and intermediate points, and from the fishermen 
operating off the Maine coast. The lobsters thus secured number 
from 15,000 to 20,000 annually and are transferred from the points 
of collection by means of the Bureau's steamer Gannet, which is at 
times assisted by the State boat Shell Drake^ to the pound at 
Pemaquid, where they are held from three to nine months, or until 




Female lobster with eggs. 

their eggs are nearly matured. When this period arrives in April 
the lobsters are removed from the pound and taken to the Boothbay 
Harbor station, where their eggs are stripped off by scraping them 
from the swimmerets with a blunt-edged Iniife. The eggs are then 
measured in a glass graduate and placed in hatching jars, where they 
remain until hatched. The basis of measurement is an ounce, which 
contains about 6,000 eggs. After being relieved of their eggs the 



STATION AT BOOTHBAY HARBOR, ME. 9 

lobsters are turned over to the commercial dealers in exchange for 
berried lobsters, while those which have become emaciated or 
crippled during the period they were held in the pound are liberated 
in the ocean. 

The eggs are hatched in the McDonald automatic hatching jar, a 
cylindrical glass vessel of 7 quarts' capacity with hemispherical bot- 
tom, supported on three glass legs and provided with a hermetically 
sealed glass top, through which pass movable glass tubes one-half 
inch in diameter. The tubes through which the water supply passes 
are pressed down to within one-half inch of the bottom of the jar, 
while the overflow tube is inserted in the jar only an inch or so below 




Tables equipped with automatic tidal boxes for hatching cod eggs. 

the metal cap. Thus under pressure the water enters at the bottom 
of the jar and overflows near the top, causing a gentle upward and 
downward motion of the eggs. From 400,000 to 500,000 eggs, 
equivalent to about 2^ quarts, are placed in each jar, which are 
ranged in rows on specially constructed tables. When the eggs 
hatch the fry are carried with the current of water through the 
overflow pipes from the hatching jars into cylindrical glass aquaria, 
which are covered with cheesecloth to prevent the escape of the fry. 
On account of the cannibalistic tendencies of the lobster fry they 
can not be held in confinement for long periods without consider- 



10 



BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



able loss, therefore they are distributed as soon as 'hatched. The 
period of incubation depends entirely upon the age of the eggs when 
collected. Eggs taken in October do not hatch until the following 
May, whereas the eggs that are taken in June frequently hatch 
within 24 hours after being placed in the jars. 

COD PROPAGATION. 

Owing to the comparatively small catch of cod on the Maine coast, 
operations with this species at the Boothbay Harbor station are 
conducted only on a limited scale. The eggs are secured from fisher- 
men operating off Cape Elizabeth and in Casco Bay. Expert spawn 
takers are taken aboard the Government vessels and transported to 
the fishing grounds. As the nets are hauled in they are carefully 




stripping eggs from female lobsters for artificial propagation. 

examined by these men and the fish which are ripe are selected for 
stripping. 

In the stripping process the spawn taker grasps the female fish 
near the tail with his left hand and places the head between his left 
arm and body ; the belly is directed downward. With the thumb and 
forefinger of the right hand the belly is gently pressed and stroked 
baclvward from near the ventral fin to the vent, the eggs being dis- 
charged into a moist pan. A quantity of milt is then added by treat- 
ing a male fish in the same way and the contents of the pan are 
gently but thoroughly stirred, to insure fertilization of the eggs. 
Shortly after the eggs are fertilized they are thoroughly washed in 
sea water. They are then placed aboard the steamer Garmet in care 
of experienced messengers to give them constant attention as they 
are being transferred to the hatchery for development. 



STATION AT BOOTHBAY HARBOR, ME. 



11 



The apparatus now in general use for hatching cod eggs is known 
as the automatic tidal box. Boxes of this type are arranged on tables 
and each contains from 9 to 12 compartments. Each compartment 
has two partitions near the ends, one fixed, the other movable, and 
between these two partitions is a box with a scrim bottom, in whicli 
the eggs are placed. Sea water from the supply pipes is forced 
through rubber tubing into the small space cut off by the fixed 
partition and, passing through a hole in this partition and a corre- 
sponding hole in the egg box, spreads over the eggs and passes out 
between the eggs and through the scrim bottom. The movable par- 
tition, which does not reach quite to the bottom of the compartment, 
cuts off a space at the other end, in wdiich is located a standpipe 
reaching not quite to the top of the compartment and covered by a 
cjdindrical cap of larger diameter about half as long, the two 











%1 **' -f . 



^.MM> 




Interior of lobster-hatching plant showing jars in operation. 

together forming a siphon. The inflowing water, after passing over 
the eggs, fills the compartment to the top of the standpipe, when it 
is rapidly siphoned off until the bottom of the cap is exposed and 
the siphon flow is broken. Thus about every seven minutes the com- 
partments are filled and nearly half emptied, the surface of the 'water 
rising and falling like the tides of the ocean. 

The spawning season of the cod on the Maine coast extends from 
February 15 to April 30. The eggs are about one-eighteenth of an 
inch in diameter, and the incubation period is 29 days in a water 
temperature of 33° F. About 425,000 are placed in each hatching 
compartment. The cod is a prolific fish, a specimen of average size 
producing about 500,000 eggs, while the maximum production is 
approximately 2,000,000. 



12 BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 

FLATFISH PROPAGATION. 

Brood fish of the flatfish or winter flounder are taken by means of 
fyke nets set in the many coves adjacent to Boothbay Harbor, Town- 
send Gut, and Linekins Bay. The spawning seasons commences 
early in March and continues through the first week in May, with 
some slight variation from 3'ear to year due to local climatic condi- 
tions. Unlike those of the cod, eggs of this species do not float. 
AVlien first taken they are adhesive, but tend to separate as they de- 
velop. Owing to their small size — the diameter being less than one- 
thirtieth of an inch — they are readily carried up by the current of 
water and tend to collect in masses when placed directly in the tidal 
boxes. To obviate this they are usually inclosed in glass jars with 
scrim bottom, two jars being placed in each box. Otherwise the ap- 
paratus used for the development of these eggs is similar to that 
employed in the propagation of the cod. 

At the Boothbay Harbor station the adult flatfish are placed in 
retaining tables in the hatchery. The eggs from sonie of these fish 
are taken by pressure, but many are allowed to spawn naturally. In 
both cases the eggs are transferred to the hatching boxes soon after 
being fertilized. 

HADDOCK AND POLLOCK PROPAGATION. 

The methods of securing and hatching the eggs of the haddock 
are practically the same as those employed in the prosecution of the 
cod work. The spawning season of this species on the Maine coast 
usually extends from near the middle of April to about May 10. 
The eggs hatch in 14 days at a water temperature of 44° F. 

All of the pollock fry produced at the Boothbay Harbor station 
iwe hatched from eggs shipped from the Gloucester, Mass., station. 
The eggs are transferred from that point, on the Bureau's steamer 
Gan?iet, in scrim-covered boxes placed in the well of the vessel. 

DISTRIBUTION. 

The many millions of fry of all species propagated at this station 
are w idely distributed on the spawning grounds and in other suitable 
localities along the Maine coast, the fish being transported on the 
steamer Gannet and properly cared for en route by experienced men. 
In liberating the young lobsters especial care is taken to place them 
in sheltered waters where the natural conditions are favorable for 
their development. In making distributions of fry covering great 
distances they are carried in specially constructed boxes provided 
with scrim covers in the well of the Gannet. The fry intended for 
local distribution are carried in 10-ffallon round-shouldered trans- 



STATION AT BOOTHBAY HARBOR, ME. 



13 



portation cans on the deck of the boat, and when the point of deposit 
is reached the cans of fish, after being lowered to its surface, are 
carefully poured into the water. 

The following table, giving the output of the various species of 
fish propagated at the Boothbay Harbor station from 1905 to 1914, 
inclusive, shows the magnitude of the operations at this station and 
the growth of the work during the past 10 years : 

Number of Lobsters Collected and the Fry of the Different Species Dis- 
tributed FROM the Boothbay Harbor Station, 1905-1916, Inclusive. 



Year. 


Lobsters 
collected. 


Lobster fry 
distributed. 


Cpd fry 
distributed. 


Haddock 
fry dis- 
tributed. 


Flatfish fry 
distributed. 


Pollock fry 
distributed. 


1905 


10,524 
14,238 
11,689 
13,569 
12,079 
11,908 
12,266 
14,902 
16,965 
20,565 
18,170 
18,284 


81,518,000 
122,500,000 
236,-500,000 
108,255,000 
141,606,000 
120,900,000 
152,295,000 
188,500,000 
172,000,000 
173,500,000 
193, 806, 200 
f58,500,000 


47,105,000 
29, 780, 000 
28, 175, 000 
42,252,000 
10,314,000 
14,888,000 
8,607,000 
6,230,000 
5,611,000 
5,859,000 
21,841,000 
5,516,000 








1906 








1907 .*. 








1908 








1909 




182,070,000 
402,165,000 
437,930,000 
490, 169, 000 
413,961,000 
556,081,000 
394, 499, OOO 
583, 707, 000 




1910 


712,000 

19,139,000 

11,316,000 

22,967,000 

894,000 

974,000 




1911 




1912 




1913 




1914 




1915 




1916 


19,800,000 






Total.... 


175, 159 


1,719,880,200 


226,178,000 


56,002,000 


3,460,582,000 


19,800,000 







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